BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
September 07 2024
Entry Point 39 - Baker Lake
Baker Lake entry point allows overnight paddle only. This entry point is supported by Tofte Ranger Station near the city of Tofte, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 26 miles. Access is a boat landing at Baker Lake with a 10-rod portage into Peterson Lake to reach first campsite. This area was affected by blowdown in 1999.
Number of Permits per Day: 2
Elevation: 1497 feet
Latitude: 47.8452
Longitude: -90.8169
Summary: A 5-day loop from Baker up the Temperance lakes to Cherokee, and back through Sawbill and Smoke lakes back to Baker. A fairly difficult trip.
Day 0: We drove up from Stillwater in the morning and camped at one of the 5 walk-in campsites at Baker Lake, and it was nice.
Day 1 (Baker to S. Temperance) - A beautiful day, we decided to paddle all the way to South Temperance the first day which was a great paddle with easy portages except for the last one. We picked the campsite on top of a huge rock that was close to the middle of the lake. Tried fishing some but no luck
Day 2 (Rest) - In the night, we encountered the worst storm of the entire season. While we were there 19 people had to be rescued from the BWCA. We had about 50mph straightline winds, and I'm still surprised that the huge tent we had stood up to it. We slept in and took a rest day because of the intense winds. Amazingly beautiful sunset.
Day 3 (S. Temperance to Cherokee) - We left as early as we could to beat the heat, but it was no good. The lengthy, hilly portages were challenging and by the last portage we were pretty beat. We overpacked and single portaged which led us to speedier exhaustion. Still amazing weather. North Temperance was a beaut- I wish we had stayed there instead of South. We took the southeasterly facing campsite on Cherokee on the southeastern skinny island. Neat little site.
Day 4 (Cherokee to Sawbill) - Left a little later in the day but it was ok. We took our time going down the river letting out of the southwest part of Cherokee and it was a great area. BEWARE: The area between Ada and Skoop Lakes appears to be floatable, but a dam built recently has made the portion impossible to float. Be prepared for a long portage through muck and water. A guy that we saw there said he had been going to the BWCA for 40 years at least once per year and it was the worst portage he had ever seen. By the time we got to Sawbill it was pretty hot. We paddled all the way down to the site next to the portage onto Smoke.
Day 5 (Sawbill to Baker) - Cooler, cloudier weather for the first time on the trip. We were pretty hungry (I underpacked food a little and I felt really bad) and we were taunting each other with vivid descriptions of the burgers we were going to eat ASAP after getting out. We paddled back to Baker and returned our gear to Sawtooth outfitters.
Overall great route.
Number of Permits per Day: 2
Elevation: 1497 feet
Latitude: 47.8452
Longitude: -90.8169
Summary: A 5-day loop from Baker up the Temperance lakes to Cherokee, and back through Sawbill and Smoke lakes back to Baker. A fairly difficult trip.
Day 0: We drove up from Stillwater in the morning and camped at one of the 5 walk-in campsites at Baker Lake, and it was nice.
Day 1 (Baker to S. Temperance) - A beautiful day, we decided to paddle all the way to South Temperance the first day which was a great paddle with easy portages except for the last one. We picked the campsite on top of a huge rock that was close to the middle of the lake. Tried fishing some but no luck
Day 2 (Rest) - In the night, we encountered the worst storm of the entire season. While we were there 19 people had to be rescued from the BWCA. We had about 50mph straightline winds, and I'm still surprised that the huge tent we had stood up to it. We slept in and took a rest day because of the intense winds. Amazingly beautiful sunset.
Day 3 (S. Temperance to Cherokee) - We left as early as we could to beat the heat, but it was no good. The lengthy, hilly portages were challenging and by the last portage we were pretty beat. We overpacked and single portaged which led us to speedier exhaustion. Still amazing weather. North Temperance was a beaut- I wish we had stayed there instead of South. We took the southeasterly facing campsite on Cherokee on the southeastern skinny island. Neat little site.
Day 4 (Cherokee to Sawbill) - Left a little later in the day but it was ok. We took our time going down the river letting out of the southwest part of Cherokee and it was a great area. BEWARE: The area between Ada and Skoop Lakes appears to be floatable, but a dam built recently has made the portion impossible to float. Be prepared for a long portage through muck and water. A guy that we saw there said he had been going to the BWCA for 40 years at least once per year and it was the worst portage he had ever seen. By the time we got to Sawbill it was pretty hot. We paddled all the way down to the site next to the portage onto Smoke.
Day 5 (Sawbill to Baker) - Cooler, cloudier weather for the first time on the trip. We were pretty hungry (I underpacked food a little and I felt really bad) and we were taunting each other with vivid descriptions of the burgers we were going to eat ASAP after getting out. We paddled back to Baker and returned our gear to Sawtooth outfitters.
Overall great route.
Kawishiwi-May 2015
by cowdoc
Trip Report
Entry Date:
May 23, 2015
Entry Point:
Kawishiwi Lake
Number of Days:
7
Group Size:
5
Trip Introduction:
Annual family trip with my sons, a friend and a special
treat to have my daughter along who hasn't tripped with us
in a few years.She was really looking forward to it. New
area for us for the most part.
Report
Left at 4:30 am and drove 9 hours to Kawishiwi e.p. Got on water a little before 3 pm and made Polly by 5pm. Took the far SE site. It's a very decent site and avoids the zoo in the north end. Grilled our steaks and caught some fish off camp. Next day plan was to head for Amber area. Weather was nice like the day before. Saw a moose with twins on Malberg. Had lunch on the NW end of Malberg and took the wet portage into Kawishiwi river. Checked out the 2 island sites on the way down....both decent. Went into Amber and the beach site was open. Baked 3 pizzas for supper and took an evening paddle.Had a drumming grouse guarding the thunderbox. He never left. Gorgeous sunset. Next day was a day trip planned to fish below rapids and see the Fishdance pictos. All done successfully except for the all day rain. Cleared off enough to make a fish dinner then rained some in the night. Packed up wet and headed back north for Adams. Neat portage in. Got the island campsite and it's a beauty. Chicken tacos and dried our gear. Bright, breezy, sunny day. Plan was to head to Boulder and loop east to Pan and eventually back down to east end of Malberg. Weather radio reports didn't sound good so we layed over and fished the next day. Hot, breezy morning into afternoon. I watched storm clouds grow and headed back to secure camp before the storm. Big T-storm....wind, down pour and tons pf pea sized hail that covered camp. Cleared off and was nice again. SMB bit decent before the storm. Next morning was quite cool and breezy. Headed out of Adams to Beaver, Trapline, Kawishiwi River, Malberg, Koma and into Polly. Most sites were full in the north end but we got the skinny island site. Stiff breeze from south was cool coming across lake but it was nice in camp. Called for rain over night and next day so I set the tarp to stash gear. Kinda muggy overnight and we got up just before the rain and packed up dry. Had breakfast under the tarp just as rain began. Loaded gear and headed out in the rain. Met 3 0r 4 groups headed in for Malberg on our way out. Met fellow member mcsweem at Townline portage and he told me to grab some cold beers out of his truck when we finished. THANKS MIKE! Got to Kawishiwi take out and loaded wet sloppy gear into truck and headed for Grand Marais for Gunflint Tavern lunch and some shopping then headed up the GFT to visit friends and stay at Tuscarora and a TC supper. Temps were cool all afternoon and night and really dropped by morning. It was 35 when we got up. Headed back to GM for breakfast at SOB and hit the road. Pictures in my photo gallery...Kawishiwi-2015
discuss this trip report (12 comments) - last post on June 05, 2015